The  life  and  labors  of  Peter  Force,  mayor  of 
Washington 


Ainsworth  R.  Spofford 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

Eugene  E.   Prussing 


JORDS   OF   THE    COLUMBIA    HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 
Volume  2,  pages  1-13 


THE   LIFE   AND  LABORS 


PETER  FORCE,  Mayor  of  Washington 


AINSWORTH  R./  SPOFFORD 


WASHINGTON 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  SOCIETY 
MAV,  LS!)S 


From  photograph  by  Alexander  Gardner  about  I860 


PETER    FORCE 

BORN    1790,   NOVEMBER  26  — DIED   1868,  JANUARY  23 


RECORDS  OF  THE   COLUMBIA   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

VOLUME  2.  pages  1-13  MAY  20,   1898 


THE  LIFE  AND  LABORS  OF  PETER  FORCE,  MAYOR 
OF  WASHINGTON 


AIXSWORTH  R.  SPOFFORD 


[Read  before  the  Society,  June  8,  J897] 


"  The  world  knows  nothing  of  its  greatest  men,"  sang  the 
poet  of  Philip  Van  Artevelde,  sixty  years  ago ;  and  in  these 
days  of  cheap  reputations  we  may  truthfully  reecho  the  sen- 
timent. The  life  of  such  a  man  as  Peter  Force,  who  died  in 
Washington  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  seventy-seven  years,  was 
worth  more  to  American  letters  and  to  human  history  than 
that  of  almost  any  forty  of  the  generals  and  other  notables, 
\vh<  isc  names  are  blazoned  on  the  scroll  of  fame.  Yet  he  was 
suffered  to  pass  away  with  a  brief  "  obituary  notice  "  in  the 
corners  of  the  newspapers,  while  the  names  of  ignorant  and 
presumptuous  nobodies,  whom  some  accident  had  elevated 
into  notoriety,  filled  the  public  eye.  But  notoriety  is  not  true 
fame,  and  the  appeal  continually  lies  from  the  days  to  the 
years,  and  from  the  years  to  the  centuries ;  and  in  the  high 
court  of  the  centuries,  where  all  the  errors  of  the  courts  below 
are  reversed,  the  cause  of  those  "  unaccredited  heroes  "  and 
unobtrusive  workers,  like  Peter  Force,  who  raise  no  ripple 
on  the  sea  of  current  history,  will  be  adjudged,  and  they  will 
be  elevated  to  a  place  in  the  temple  of  fame  as  lofty  and  illus- 

1— RE.:.  <'"i..    HISI.  S,,<  .  (I) 


279514 


2  Records  of  the  Columbia  Historical  Society 

trious  as  the  fruits  of  their  unpretending  labors,  enjoyed  and 
used  by  mankind  at  large,  can  justly  entitle  them  to. 

Peter  Force  lived  for  more  than  half  a  century  in  Wash- 
ington, having  removed  here  in  1815  from  New  York.  He 
found  Washington  a  straggling  village  of  wood,  and  left  it  a 
stately  city  of  brick  and  marble.  He  filled  various  public 
and  responsible  positions  in  municipal  affairs  and  national 
associations.  He  was,  during  nine  years  of  his  busy  life, 
editor  and  proprietor  of  a  daily  journal,  which  enjoyed  the 
confidence  of  Henry  Clay  and  John  Quincy  Adams  ;  but  it 
is  not  as  mayor  of  Washington,  nor  as  editor  of  a  political 
paper,  that  he  will  best  be  remembered.  His  characteristic 
merit,  which  differences  him  from  the  Ritchies,  the  Duff 
Greens,  and  the  F.  P.  Blairs,  who  also  bore  an  active  part  in 
political  journalism  at  the  National  Capital,  is  that  he  was 
more  than  a  journalist — he  was  a  historian. 

Born  near  Passaic  Falls,  N.  J.,  on  November  26,  1790,  his 
father,  William  Force,  being  one  of  the  veterans  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  Peter  Force  was  by  lineage,  as  well  as  by 
native  tastes  and  talents,  a  worthy  exponent  of  that  branch 
of  American  history  to  which  he  dedicated  so  many  years. 
Removed  to  New  York  in  early  boyhood,  he  became  a  jour- 
neyman in  the  printing  office  of  William  A.  Davis,  and  made 
such  progress  in  the  art  that  at  sixteen  he  was  intrusted  with 
the  direction  of  the  office.  When  the  war  of  1812  with  Great 
Britain  came,  he  served  with  honor  in  the  army  as  sergeant 
and  lieutenant.  In  1815,  his  employer  having  secured  a 
contract  for  the  printing  of  Congress,  removed  to  Washing- 
ton, and  Peter  Force,  at  twenty-five  years  of  age,  became  also 
a  resident  and  a  printer  in  this  city.  Here  he  soon  became 
known  as  an  active  and  public-spirited  citizen,  whose  judg- 
ment and  sagacity  made  an  impress  upon  all  who  were 
brought  into  contact  with  him.  In  the  seventh  year  of  his 
residence  he  was  elected  to  the  city  council,  then  to  the  board 
of  aldermen,  being  chosen  president  by  both  bodies,  and  in 
1836  he  was  elected  mayor  of  Washington,  and  served  by  re- 
election four  years — until  1840.  Besides  thus  filling  with 

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^4.  R.  Spofford — The  Life  and  Labors  of  Peter  Force        3 

signal  ability  and  dignity  the  highest  civil  offices  in  the  gift 
of  his  fellow-citizens,  he  was  also  honored  with  the  highest 
military  office,  having  been  made  successively  captain,  lieu- 
tenant-colonel, colonel,  and  major-general  in  the  militia  of 
the  District  of  Columbia.  He  was  also  for  some  years  pres- 
ident of  the  National  Institute  for  the  promotion  of  science. 

But  the  great  distinctive  service  rendered  by  Peter  Force 
to  his  countrymen  was  far  above  the  province  of  the  highest 
official  station  or  military  rank.  Very  early  in  life  he  evinced 
a  zealous  interest  in  historical  investigations,  and  four  years 
after  coming  to  Washington  he  originated  and  published  an 
annual  devoted  to  recording  the  facts  of  history,  with  statis- 
tical and  official  information  of  a  varied  character.  This 
"  National  Calendar  and  Annals  of  the  United  States,"  as  he 
called  it,  antedated  by  ten  years-  the  publication  of  the  old 
American  Almanac,  and  was  continuously  published  here 
from  1820  to  1836,  except  the  years  1825,  1826,  and  1827, 
when  none  were  printed.  In  1823  Force  established  a  semi- 
weekly  newspaper,  the  National  Journal,  which  became  a 
daily  in  1824,  and  was  continued  until  1831.  This  journal 
was  independent  in  politics,  with  moderate  and  conservative 
views  upon  public  questions,  and  it  drew  to  its  columns 
some  noted  contributors,  among  them  John  Quincy  Adams. 

The  high-minded  conduct  of  this  paper  in  doing  justice  to 
the  opponents  of  the  administration  once  led  to  a  committee 
of  the  ruling  party  (which  it  then  supported)  waiting  upon 
Colonel  Force  and  asking  him  to  permit  them  to  edit  or  re- 
vise the  political  columns  with  a  view  to  more  thorough 
partisan  effect.  They  little  knew  the  independent  character 
of  the  man  with  whom  they  had  to  deal.  Colonel  Force 
divw  himself  up  to  his  full  height  (he  was  six  feet  tall)  and 
with  that  dignity  of  bearing  which  sat  so  naturally  upon 
him,  with  his  clear  gray  eyes  fixed  upon  his  visitors,  he  said  : 
(t  I  did  not  suppose  that  any  gentleman  would  make  such  a 
proposition  to  me." 

Among  Mr  Force's  publications  of  greatest  value  to  the 
students  of  history  were  the  series,  in  four  octavo  volumes, 

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4  Records  of  the  Columbia  Historical  Society 

of  Force's  "  Historical  Tracts."  These  were  reprints  of  the 
rarest  early  pamphlets  concerning  America,  long  out  of  print, 
and  some  of  which  he  could  not  procure  or  else  could  not 
afford  to  own,  but  borrowed  them  from  libraries  for  the  pur- 
pose of  reproducing  them.  "  Whenever,"  said  he,  "  I  found 
a  little  more  money  in  my  purse  than  I  absolutely  needed,  I 
printed  a  volume  of  Tracts."  Many  of  the  rarissimi  of  early 
American  history  or  exploration  owe  to 'Peter  Force  their 
sole  chance  of  preservation. 

The  series  of  American  Archives,  the  great  monumental 
work  of  his  life,  was  published  at  intervals  from  1837  to  1853. 
It  embraces  the  period  of  history  from  1774  to  December, 
1776,  in  nine  stately  folio  volumes,  printed  in  double  column 
and  most  thoroughly  indexed.  These  archives  constitute  a 
thesaurus  of  original  information  about  the  two  most  mo- 
mentous years  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  and  especially 
concerning  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  of  inestimable 
value.  To  this  work,  the  bold  conception  of  his  own  mind, 
to  contain  nothing  less  than  the  original  fountains  of  Amer- 
ican history,  reproduced  in  systematic  chronological  order, 
he  dedicated  his  long  and  useful  life.  For  it  he  assembled, 
with  keen,  discriminating  judgment  and  unwearied  toil,  that 
great  collection  of  historical  material  which  now  forms  an 
invaluable  part  of  the  Congressional  Library. 

Nor  was  the  literary  and  historical  zeal  of  the  subject  of 
our  sketch  by  any  means  confined  to  the  early  history  of 
America.  He  dignified  and  adorned  his  profession  of  printer, 
as  did  Benjamin  Franklin  before  him,  by  original  author- 
ship in  many  fields.  He  was  profoundly  interested  in  the 
annals  of  the  art  of  printing  and  the  controversies  over  its 
true  inventor.  He  gathered  by  assiduous  .search  a  small 
library  of  incunabula,  or  books  printed  in  the  infancy  of  the 
art,  representing  every  year  from  1407  (his  earliest  black- 
letter  imprint)  up  to  1500  and  later.  He  studied  the  sub- 
ject of  Arctic  explorations,  collecting  all  books  published  in 
that  field,  and  himself  writing  upon  it.  He  was  the  first 
to  discover  and  publish  in  the  columns  of  the  National  In- 

4 


A.  R.  Spofford — The  Life  and  Labors  of  Peter  Force        5 

\ 

tcll/f/cnccr  the  true  history  of  the  Mecklenburg  "  Declaration 
of  Independence  "  of  May,  1775,  proving  by  contemporaneous 
newspapers  he  had  acquired  that  the  true  resolutions  were 
of  date  May  31,  and  that  the  so-called  declaration  of  May 
20,  was  spurious. 

Mr  Force  as  a  Collector  of  Books 

No  man  living  can  fully  tell  the  story  of  that  devoted,  pa- 
tient, assiduous  life-labor  spent  in  one  fixed  spot,  surrounded 
by  the  continually  growing  accessions  of  books,  pamphlets, 
periodicals,  manuscripts,  maps,  and  engravings  which  con- 
tributed to  throw  light  upon  some  period  of  his  vast  inquiry. 
To  say  that  his  library  alone  filled  seven  commodious  rooms 
to  overflowing ;  that  it  embraced,  besides  the  largest  assem- 
blage of  books  ever  then  accumulated  by  a  private  citizen  in 
this  country,  thirty  thousand  pamphlets  and  eight  hundred 
volumes  of  newspapers ;  that  it  was  rich  in  Revolutionary  auto- 
graphs, maps,  portraits,  and  engravings,  and  that  it  embraced 
between  forty  and  fifty  thousand  titles — all  this  is  to  convey 
but  a  mechanical  idea  of  the  life-long  and  unintermitted  labor 
which  Mr  Force  expended  upon  his  favorite  subject.  He 
began  to  collect  American  books  long  before  the  birth  of  the 
extensive  and  mostly  undiscerning  mania  of  book-collecting 
which  has  of  late  years  become  the  rage,  and  he  continued 
the  unceasing  pursuit  until  the  very  week  before  he  was  laid 
in  his  coffin.  He  carried  off  prizes  at  auctions  which  no  com- 
petitor had  the  knowledge  or  the  nerve  to  dispute  with  him. 
He  ransacked  the  book-shops  of  the  United  States  from  Bos- 
ton to  Charleston  for  rare  volumes. 

He  had  agents  to  pick  up  "  unconsidered  trifles  "  out  of 
the  garrets  of  New  England  housewives,  and  he  read  eagerly 
all  the  multifarious  catalogues  which  swarmed  in  upon  him 
of  books  on  sale  in  London  and  on  the  continent.  On  one 
occasion  he  was  a  bidder  against  the  United  States  for  a  large 
and  valuable  library  of  bound  pamphlets,  the  property  of  an 
early  collector,  which  were  brought  to  the  hammer  in  Phila- 

5 


6  Records  of  the  Columbia  Historical  Society 

v  if 

delpbia.  The  Library  of  Congress  had  sent  on  a  bid  (a  limited 
one)  for  the  coveted  volumes;  but  Mr  Force's  order  (intrusted 
to  his  agent  attending  the  sale)  was  peremptory  and  unlim- 
ited, "  Buy  me  those  pamphlets  in  an  unbroken  lot."  They 
were  bought.  He  knew  well  enough  how  to  make  a  bargain, 
and  his  purchases  were  often  made  at  prices  which  would  now 
seem  fabulously  cheap  ;  yet  he  never  boggled  at  a  high  price 
when  once  he  was  satisfied  that  he  had  an  opportunity  to 
procure  a  rare  or  unique  volume,  which  might  never  again 
be  offered  to  competition.  Thus,  he  used  to  tell  how  he 
had  once  tried  to  buy  two  thin  foolscap  volumes  containing 
Major  General  Greene's  original  manuscript  letters  and  dis- 
patches during  the  Southern  Revolutionary  campaign  of 
1781-'82.  The  price  demanded  was  two  hundred  dollars. 
Mr  Force  offered  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  which  was 
refused.  He  then  offered  fifty  dollars  for  the  privilege  of 
taking  a  copy.  This  was  also  declined.  Seeing  that  he  could 
not  otherwise  possess  himself  of  them,  he  wisely  paid  the  two 
hundred  dollars,  and  marched  off  with  the  precious  volumes 
under  his  arm. 

Out  of  his  multitude  of  pamphlets  he  had  many  which 
could  not  have  cost  him  sixpence  each,  but  there  were  others 
for  which  he  had  readily  paid  from  two  to  twenty  dollars 
apiece,  rather  than  go  without  them.  He  carried  off  from  an 
antiquarian  bookseller  in  Boston  the  only  file  of  Boston  Rev- 
olutionary newspapers  which  had  been  offered  for  sale  in  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  and  when  good-iiatu redly  reproached 
by  some  Yankee  visitors  for  thus  stripping  New  England,  he 
conclusively  replied :  "  Why  didn't  you  buy  them  yourselves, 
then  ?  "  To  the  last  he  was  untiring  in  his  efforts  to  secure 
complete  and  unbroken  files  of  all  the  Washington  news- 
papers. These  were  carefully  laid  in  piles  day  by  day,  after 
such  perusal  as  he  chose  to  give  them,  and  the  mass  of  jour- 
nals thus  accumulated  for  thirty  years  or  upward  filled  the 
large  basement  of  his  house  nearly  full.  His  file  of  the 
printed  "Army  orders  "  issued  by  the  War  Department  was 
a  miracle  of  completeness,  and  it  was  secured  only  by  the 


A.  R.  Spofford — The  Life  and  Labors  of  Peter  Force        1 

same  untiring  vigilance  which  he  applied  to  all  matters 
connected  with  the  increase  of  his  library.  "With  the  weight 
of  seventy-five  winters  on  his  shoulders,  he  would  drag  him- 
self up  to  the  War  Department  regularly  to  claim  from  some 
officer  who  knew  him  and  his  passion  the  current  additions 
to  the  printed  series  of  Army  orders  promulgated  in  all 
branches  of  the  service  during  the  civil  war.  He  thus  secured 
for  his  private  collection,  now  become  the  historic  heirloom 
of  the  American  people,  articles  which  librarians  and  other 
functionaries,  trusting  to  official  channels  of  communication 
alone,  seek  in  vain  to  secure. 

But  Mr  Force  was  no  mere  collector  of  books.  He  was 
a  man  wTho  knew  how  to  use  them.  Every  volume  which 
he  added  to  his  richly  laden  shelves  was  added  with  a  pur- 
pose. Every  pamphlet,  hand-bill,  or  newspaper  was  hailed 
as  it  contributed  to  throw  some  light  upon  the  history  or 
politics  of  the  past  or  to  illustrate  some,  character  in  the  long 
picture-gallery  of  departed  American  worthies.  The  greater 
portion  of  the  volumes  in  his  library,  especially  the  Revolu- 
tionary newspapers  and  pamphlets,  were  filled  with  marks 
and  memoranda  indicating  his  careful  study  and  repeated 
examination.  References  to  other  and  collateral  authorities, 
notes  showing  where  further  information  had  been  published 
or  was  to  be  found,  references  to  catalogues  of  early  printed 
works,  where  any  volumes  of  ancient  typography  had  been 
described — all  these  and  similar  elucidations  were  scattered 
through  the  well-thumbed  and  dusty  volumes. 

It  was  not  alone  with  reference  to  Revolutionary  history 
that  Mr  Force's  zeal  as  a  historical  student  was  enlisted.  He 
had  a  passion  for  the  art  of  printing — his  own  early  chosen 
profession — and  had  collected  a  larger  library  of  books  printed 
in  the  infancy  of  the  art  than  any  public  library  in  the  United 
States  could  then  boast  of. 

He  became  widely  known  as  a  collector,  and  books,  pam- 
phlets, and  periodicals,  with  frequent  offers  of  manuscripts, 
came  pouring  in  upon  him.  He  culled  from  all  what  he 
wanted,  and  by  the  steady  accretion  of  years  the  long,  ramb- 

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8  Records  of  the  Columbia  Historical  Society 

ling  mansion  on  the  comer  of  Tenth  and  D  streets  became 
filled  to  overflowing  with  this  great  library  of  facts  and  docu- 
ments. There  dwelt  the  sage  among  his  books  from  an  early 
hour  in  the  morning  until  late  at  night. 

The  Historical  Student  at  His  Work 

Let  us  endeavor  to  picture  our  departed  friend,  who  lived 
to  be  the  worthy  mentor  of  more  than  a  generation  of  his- 
torical students.  As  a  printer  he  was  devoted  to  his  art,  and 
many  volumes  or  pamphlets  remain  to  us  bearing  the  im- 
print of  Peter  Force,  or  of  Davis  &  Force,  the  former  his 
accomplished  partner  in  the  noble  art  preservative  of  all 
other  arts.  After  he  ceased  to  print,  and  grew  to  be  a  devotee 
to  the  single  aim  of  historical  inquiry,  he  became  more  of  a 
recluse  than  in  earlier  years.  He  saw  no  company  save  a 
few  chosen  friends,  and  alike  to  curiosity -hunters  and  to  au- 
tograph fiends  he  turned  a  justly  deaf  ear.  It  was  my  good 
fortune  in  those  closing  years  to  see  him  daily,  and  in  his 
company  to  go  through  all  the  more  precious  stores  of  his 
vast  collection.  At  eight  o'clock  each  morning  I  found  him 
always  immersed  in  work,  collating  or  writing  amid  heaps 
of  historical  lore — 

Books  to  the  right  of  him, 
Books  to  the  loft  of  him, 
Books  behind  him 
Volleyed  and  tumbled. 

No  luxurious  library  appointments,  no  glazed  book-cases 
of  walnut  or  mahogany,  no  easy  chairs  inviting  to  soft  repose 
or  slumber  were  there;  but  only  plain,  rough  pine  shelves 
and  pine  tables,  heaped  and  piled  writh  books,  pamphlets, 
and  journals,  which  overflowed  seven  spacious  rooms  and 
littered  the  floors.  Among  them  moved  familiarly  two  or 
more  cats  and  a  favorite  old  dog,  for  the  lonely  scholar  was 
fond  of  pets,  as  he  always  was  of  children.  He  had  near  bits 
of  bread  or  broken  meat  or  a  saucer  of  milk  to  feed  his  favorites 
in  the  intervals  of  his  work.  Clad  in  a  loose  woolen  wrapper 
or  dressing-gown,  the  sage  looked  up  from  his  books  with  a 


A.  R.  Spofford — The  Life  and  Labors  of  Peter  Force        9 

placid  smile  of  greeting,  for  (like  that  of  many  men  of  leonine 
and  somber  aspect)  his  smile  was  of  singular  sweetness.  As 
we  went  through  the  various  treasures  of  the  collection,  en- 
abling me  to  make  the  needful  notes  for  my  report  to  Con- 
gress, he  had  frequent  incidents  to  tell — how  he  had  picked 
up  many  a  gem  on  neglected  and  dust-laden  shelves  or  from 
street  book-stalls;  how  he  had  competed  at  auction  for  a 
coveted  volume  and  borne  it  away  in  triumph ;  how  he  had 
by  mere  accident  completed  an  imperfect  copy  of  Stith's  Vir- 
ginia by  finding  in  a  heap  of  printed  rubbish  a  missing  signa- 
ture, and  how  precious  old  pamphlets  and  early  newspapers 
had  been  fished  by  him  out  of  chests  and  barrels  in  the  gar- 
rets of  Virginia  and  Maryland.  In  the  rear  of  his  work-room 
was  a  little  garden  (no  wall  built  over  by  the  brick  edifice  erected 
for  the  Washington  Post  by  Stilson  Hutchins)  in  which  he 
had  planted  trees,  then  grown  to  stately  size,  interspersed  with 
grass  and  rose  bushes  and  box  and  tangled  shrubbery.  This 
green  retreat  or  thicket  he  called  his  "  wilderness,"  and  here 
he  took  delight  in  walking  when  resting  from  his  sedentary 
work.  His  manners  were  gravely  courteous  and  simple,  his 
conversation  deliberate  rather  than  fluent,  his  tones  modu- 
lated and  low.  His  talk  was  often  enlivened  by  an  under- 
current of  genial  humor.  Without  egotism  or  pretension,  he 
Avas  ever  ready  to  impart  to  inquirers  from  his  full  stores  of 
wisdom  and  experience,  while  cherishing  a  wholesome  horror 
of  pretenders  and  of  bores.  So  hospitable  was  his  intellectual 
attitude  that  what  a  simple  Scottish  swain  said  of  Sir  Walter 
Scott  might  well  be  applied  to  him  :  "  He  always  talks  to  me 
as  if  I  was  equal  to  him — and  to  think  tliot  of  a  mon  that  has 
such  an  awful  knowledge  o'  history  !  " 

In  his  physical  aspect  Peter  Force  was  a  man  of  marked 
and  impressive  personality.  Of  stalwart  build,  his  massive 
head  covered  to  the  last  with  a  profusion  of  curling  hair,  his 
erect  bearing,  keen  vision,  and  dignity  of  port  impressed  the 
most  casual  beholder.  Once  seen,  he  was  not  one  to  be  for- 
gotten, for  the  personal  impress  was  that  of  a  man  cast  in  a 
heroic  mould.  Addicted  to  study  as  he  was  and  living  a 

2— REC.  Cor..    HIST.   S.,r.  9 


10  Records  of  the  Columbia  Historical  Society 

singularly  laborious  life,  he  yet  took  active  exercise  in  long 
walks,  and  his  familiar  aspect  and  courteous  recognition  was 
an  every-day  bcnison  in  Washington  streets,  for  he  had  the 
respect  of  all  men.  His  domestic  life  was  singularly  fortu- 
nate. He  brought  up  and  educated  a  family  of  seven  well- 
gifted  children,  some  of  whom  inherited  the  paternal  zeal  for 
historical  investigation  and  produced  writings  of  recognized 
value. 

Plan  of  the  American  Archives 

The  one  great  object  which  overshadowed  all  other  objects 
with  Mr  Force  was  to  amass  the  materials  out  of  which  a 
complete  documentary  history  of  the  United  States  could  be 
compiled.  His  labors  as  a  historiographer  are  known  to  com- 
paratively few,  since  the  great  bulk  and  cost  of  the  published 
volumes  of  his  "American  Archives  "  confine  them  chiefly  to 
the  large  libraries  of  the  country  ;  but  by  all  students  of  our 
Revolutionary  history  and  all  writers  upon  it,  especially,  his 
work  is  estimated  at  its  true  value.  The  plan  of  it  comprised, 
in  the  language  of  its  prospectus,  "  a  collection  of  authentic 
records,  State  papers,  debates,  and  letters,  and  other  notices 
of  public  affairs,  the  whole  forming  a  documentary  history  of 
the  origin  and  progress  of  the  North  American  colonies,  of 
the  causes  and  accomplishment  of  the  American  Revolution, 
and  of  the  Constitution  and  Government  of  the  United  States 
to  the  final  ratification  thereof." 

His  contract  with  the  Department  of  State  (executed  in 
pursuance  of  an  act  of  Congress)  was  to  embrace  about  twenty 
folio  volumes.  He  entered  into  the  work  with  such  zeal  that 
the  fourth  series,  in  six  volumes,  was  completed  and  pub- 
lished in  the  seven  years  from  1837  to  1844.  Three  more 
volumes,  forming  the  commencement  of  the  fifth  series,  and 
bringing  the  history  down  to  the  close  of  1776,  were  also 
printed,  when  Secretary  Marcy  arbitrarily  stopped  the  work 
by  withholding  his  approval  of  the  contents  of  the  volumes 
submitted  to  him  for  the  continuation.  This  was  about  the 
year  1853,  and  this  sudden  and  unlooked-for  interruption  of 

10 


A.  R.  Spofford — The  Life  and  Labors  of  Peter  Force      11 

his  cherished  plan  and  demolition  of  the  fair  and  perfect 
historical  edifice  which  was  to  be  his  life-long  labor  and  his 
monument  of  fame  Avas  a  blow  from  which  he  never  fully 
recovered.  It  was  not  alone  that  he  had  entered  upon  a 
scale  of  expenditure  for  materials  commensurate  with  the 
projected  extent  of  the  work ;  that  he  had  procured  at  great 
cost  thousands  of  pages  of  manuscript,  copied  from  the  orig- 
inal archives  of  the  various  colonies  and  the  State  Depart- 
ment ;  that  he  had  amassed  an  enormous  library  of  books 
and  newspapers  which  filled  his  whole  house  and  encroached 
so  heavily  upon  his  means  that  he  was  driven  to  mortgage 
his  property  to  meet  his  bills ;  but  it  was  the  rude  interrup- 
tion of  a  great  national  work  by  those  incompetent  to  judge 
of  its  true  merits  ;  it  was  the  petty  and  vexatious  and  unjust 
rescinding  by  an  officer  of  the  Government  of  a  contract  to 
which  he  had  reason  to  believe  that  the  faith  of  the  Govern- 
ment was  pledged.  Mr  Force  was  already  over  sixty  years 
of  age  when  this  event  happened.  He  never  renewed  his 
labor  upon  the  archives ;  the  unpublished  masses  of  manu- 
script remained  in  the  very  spot  where  his  work  upon  them 
had  been  broken  off,  and  he  could  never  allude  to  the  sub- 
ject without  some  pardonable  bitterness  of  feeling.  Friends 
urged  him  to  appeal  to  Congress ;  to  try  to  prevail  with  new 
Secretaries  of  State  to  renew  the  work  ;  to  sue  for  damages ; 
to  petition  for  relief.  Not  one  of  these  things  would  he  do. 
He  had  a  sensitive  pride  of  character,  joined  to  a  true  stoic 
loftiness  of  mind.  An  ordinary  man  would  have  besieged 
Congress  with  his  claims  and  enlisted  all  his  friends  in 
clamorous  efforts  for  some  reparation.  Not  so  Peter  Force  ; 
he  could  suffer,  but  he  could  not  beg.  There  was  an  assur- 
ance of  dignity  in  his  very  look,  which  repelled  all  idea  that 
he  would  ever  be  engaged  in  a  scramble  for  filthy  lucre, 
however  unjustly  it  might  be  denied  him.  He  never  ap- 
proached a  member  of  Congress  upon  the  subject,  nor  asked 
a  favor  where  he -might  have  justly  claimed  a  right.  He 
bore  his  heavy  burdens  manfully,  cheered  by  no  hope  of 
recompense,  struggling  with  debt,  but  still  enduring,  still 

11 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
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I  VE  D 

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1BD  ID-URl 

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Form  L-9 

10m  -S,  '39(7752) 


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